Crystal ball for 2021 WR Markus Allen to M
Steve Wiltfong put in a 247 crystal ball for Clayton (OH) Northmont wide receiver Markus Allen to come to Michigan. Wiltfong has been right on 74/75 picks so far in the 2021 class.
Allen is a 247 Sports 3-star and the #149 WR. His teammate is safety Rod Moore (3-star, #79 S). Both were supposed to visit Michigan a couple weekends ago, but the coronavirus stuff stopped them.
They both go to the same high school that Michigan defensive end Gabe Newburg attended.
I'll post their highlights in the comments.
March 29th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
Magnus, do you consider Allen to be more of an "under the radar" Ronnie Bell type that the coaches are evaluating more properly than the recruiting services? Or do you think his rating of the 149th wideout in this class is correct?
Well, he's definitely not under the radar because he has a decent offer list, unlike Ronnie Bell.
I can't say that I've watched the other 148 wide receivers ahead of him. That seems a little bit low to me, but I wouldn't be stumping for Allen to get a 4th star or anything.
He’s in the top 600 on the composite, good for 90th ranked WR. His offer list, which has blown up since January and now includes a lot of the mid tier P5 teams, would indicate he's in the high three star range. The offer lost exploding in the last couple months likely means some of the upper P5 schools are at least starting to sniff around and pay attention to the kid.
Sounds like a kid who blew up once coaches got ahold of his junior year tape and the scouts either haven’t evaluated that, or want to see him in a camp setting before taking notice.
March 29th, 2020 at 12:22 PM ^
MGoBlog: "He's only got 3 starzzz the coaches are bad recruiters"
MGoBlog: "He's only got 3 starzzz, how are we gonna ever fill the talent gap if he's only got 3 starzzz"
MGoBlog: "If he doesn't come to Michigan then the coaches can't even recruit guys with 3 starzzz"
MGoBlog: "28 other offers including Wisconsin does not mean he is a Michigan quality player".
MGoBlog: "If he becomes Ronnie Bell it doesn't matter because he only had 3 starzzz".
People get lost in individual recruits versus overall trends. Any individual 3 star can be a great recruit for a variety of reasons. If your class is compromised of a majority of 3 stars it’s a problem. If you aren’t getting any 5 stars to balance out lower hit rates with 3 stars it’s a problem
We don't like math here, we prefer anecdotal evidence of the cherry-picked 3 stars that have become stars at UM so we can tout how great our coaches' eyes are for underrated talent.
The fact that the same 4-5 teams keep making the CFP and always have top 5 recruiting classes year, after year, after year without having position gaps or rebuilding years shall not be discussed here.
March 29th, 2020 at 10:20 PM ^
I think everyone know that. Complaining about it and being in a crappy mood doesn’t fix it. Watching sports is suppose to be enjoyable.
March 29th, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
His offer list is definitely better than his ranking would indicate. I also trust Josh Gattis on this
His tape also looks pretty solid as well. Not the fastest guy, but looks more to be a big body receiver who can make catches in traffic with nice body control
March 29th, 2020 at 12:31 PM ^
/puts quarter in Magnus machine
"Magnus, can you tell us what you think of this prospect?"
LOL.
I think I'm unmoved. He appears to me like he's Just A Guy. Yes, he could come in and get on the field at some point, but he's unlikely to make Michigan any better.
Always appreciate hearing your view, thank you.
Just my "two cents", but even during the COVID-19 Pandemic when there might be risks of carrying the virus on paper, shouldn't the "Magnus Machine" require at least a dollar?
March 29th, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
As always, thanks for posting! Is he fast?
March 29th, 2020 at 12:44 PM ^
"He's like a combination of Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt with the hands of Dwight Clark and the route running ability of a Jerry Rice". - Fred Jackson'd
March 29th, 2020 at 12:59 PM ^
Usain Bolt is too slow. I’m looking for players with Brittany Spears speed now
He's...not very fast. He's not slow. But he's not fast. Think Amara Darboh game speed.
I don't care about the starz. I care about the state. We gotta make inroads somewhere in that state.
Oh, good, any player from Ohio must be good get even if OSU wouldn't even sniff the dude. Why not save the drive and just get guys from Toledo? It's a lot closer.
thats so foolish. stars arent everything but they often correspond to really talented prospects and its all about talent. if they can pull legit contributors like wormley, butt, etc, thats the goal, not just signing average prospects bc theyre from ohio. you need better than average to compete with nd or psu, not to mention osu
I don't really agree with that sentiment.
On the other hand, if MSU is going to rebound in recruiting, they do need players like this from Ohio and have offered him already. Other things being equal, I like the idea of blocking their efforts. He'd rank among the top few recruits in their last class.
I should repeat, other things being equal. Presumably Gattis thinks highly of him.
Nice
The talent gap continues to widen. We need more than gritty “just a guy” to keep up.
Agreed. Michigan isn't going to be any better until they up their recruiting game. The lack of anything being done about our recruiting staff in January and February shows me that we are going to consistently be between 10th and 25th nationally in recruiting with the occasional top 10 class.
Michigan had one of, if not the, best WR recruiting class the year they got DPJ. That great class turned into... zero star Ronnie Bell getting all the targets. It's really hard to get elite players when you have shown that's what you do when you get elite players.
I don’t think it’s fair to say that just because a player was ranked highly they deserve more targets than someone who wasn’t ranked highly. Bell gets open and makes plays once he gets the ball. You can criticize play calling and saying that Michigan doesn’t throw as much as they should with their caliber of WR recruits. But not who should get those targets based on starz.
All I said was our elite WRs got passed by a younger no star recruit. Maybe Ronnie is the real deal. Maybe DPJ was lazy. Maybe something else - I don't know. However, you can bet others schools are using that to negative recruit against us.
Again, you can criticize poor play calling and can use that to negatively recruit against Michigan. But you can’t say oh Michigan doesn’t use its highly rated players properly because they’d rather throw it to this zero star player. All that does is reinforce Michigan’s policy of playing time being a meritocracy.
"You" most definitely can, and a risk averse five star would worry about it. It doesn't matter though - Michigan isn't landing elite skill players and the reason for that is not important.
Meh.
DPJ was very Rashan Gary to me...a freak physical specimen that tests well in combine drills, but not exceptionally productive on the field. DPJ had many drops and didn't seem to separate well from defenders on downfield routes. It' true, of course, that when he did separate, Patterson often missed him, but he was hardly a Manningham or Braylon level stud dominating in route running or high balls.
Black had all the potential in the world and broke both his feet and never looked nearly as explosive or elusive again. Hard to judge how he was handled given the injuries.
Collins and Bell are both ridiculously productive when thrown to. Bell's hands can improve some, but he has that intangible ability to get open and accelerate in small spaces. The argument can and should be made that Nico needed and needs way more targets and is under-utilized.
Martin transferred because he was passed up in the depth chart...we'll see if that was roster mismanagement or indeed he just wasn't cutting it.
Offer list tells me he’s going to get a bump:
Michigan State
Purdue
Wisconsin
Pitt
West Virginia
Brohm wanting him tells me this kid is better than his rating.
Excited for the kid and all
But...those are basically crap schools outside of UW...doesn’t exactly scream ratings bump to me, maybe if some others join Michigan with offering it will...
Cool name at least.
How bout Marcus Allen Jr?
Looks like a poor mans Nico Collins to me. Runs good routes. Not a speed merchant but has sneaky top gear. Best quality is his ability to make contested catches.
Doesn’t appear to be a program-changer, but Gattis is always looking for players that give you an advantage in some way. This guy tracks and catches the ball very well, even in traffic. He reminds me the guys that have had success at MSU just catching back shoulder fades.
March 29th, 2020 at 10:15 PM ^
I’ve accepted the fact that we are not going to out-recruit osu or even approach their level of recruiting without beating them and making the playoffs. So give me a solid o-line, a good QB, and a handful of players from Ohio with a chip on their shoulder who would give anything to beat them and show them they deserved an osu offer. Hopefully we can add an elite RB (Edwards) to the mix as well.